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VOICES
OF THE 1940s
George
A. Hartrick, program director
Frank
J. Abbott
Charles
R. LaFlamme
Robert
S. Findlay
John
F. Adams
Robert
A. Athearn
Norman
E. Bailey
Gene Newcomb
John
Gerald Kearney
Chuck
O'Neil
Frederick
W. Cole, program manager
George
Christie, The Old Crusader
Francis
J. Baroody
Warren
H. Journay, program manager
Frank
J. Finning
Dick
Lance
Raphael
E. Sjoberg
Janet
J. Carr
Adeline
Casseboom
Armand
R. LaPointe, Jr.
Alphonse
Maffie
Bill
Sullivan
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| Ray
Sjoberg hosted Dance Time and sometimes flipped hot platters
on the 1370 Streamliner |
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| Every
Wednesday night at 7:45, vocalist Gene Newcomb sang the favorite songs
of the day on Serenade in the Evening |
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| Armand
LaPointe was WFEA's first news editor, delivering five daily newscasts
Monday through Saturday |
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Home economist Adeline Casseboom hosted Kitchen Chat weekday
mornings at 10, sponsored by the Manchester
Gas Company |
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| A
fine boxing and greyhound dog race announcer, George Christie earned
his nickname as The Old Crusader by his pointed editorials
on Manchester matters |
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| Newspaper
ad - November 2, 1947 |
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The year 1941
proved eventful for Manchester's first radio station. It became
a member of the NBC Basic Red Network.
On March 29, 1941,
WFEA changed its frequency for the third and final time. At three
o'clock in the morning, the North American Regional Broadcast Agreement
(NARBA) went into effect to ease overcrowding on the AM band. All
stations operating at a frequency higher than 740 kilocycles moved
to new dial positions; WFEA moved to 1370.
On December 19,
1941, WFEA was granted permission to increase its power output to
5,000 watts.
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WFEA engineer
Claude Marquis in May 1943
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On November 28,
1944 the FCC approved the sale of WFEA to Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph
publisher Harry M. Bitner for $150,000. Bitner assumed control on
December 15th; Melvin C. Green was appointed general manager. The
following May, New Hampshire Broadcasting Company also sold WFEA's
Merrimack transmitter building, towers, and 20 acres of land to
Bitner.
In June, 1945,
the station said goodbye to NBC and reaffiliated with CBS, while
maintaining the Yankee Network affiliation. On October 5th Bitner
applied for an FM license, a story that would play out unsuccessfully
three years later.
The new year 1946
meant a new home. On January 27, WFEA moved its studios across the
street from the Carpenter Hotel to a former private home at 287
Franklin Street.
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| An
open house was held on June 1, 1946. |
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An
in-house group, The WFEA Trio, performed live music every weekday
on Your Luncheon Serenade and Your Dinner Serenade.
The group consisted of keyboard player Roger Barrette, accordionist
Ernie Woessner and
guitarist Gerry Kearney.
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In January, 1947 WFEA
and WMUR (610kc, now WGIR AM) announced joint plans to enter the emerging
frequency modulation market by applying for FM licenses. Their plan was
to jointly operate from one building atop the 1,329-foot Mount Uncanoonuc
in Goffstown, NH.
WFEA was awarded a conditional
grant for WVMA FM (101.1kc, 3.4kw) in October, but in February, 1948 licensee
Harry M. Bitner sold the stations to N.H. Broadcasting Company, Inc.,
and the construction permit for WVMA FM expired in September (WMUR
was more successful and today WGIR FM operates from Mount Uncanoonuc on
101.1mc).
Bitner owned WFEA for
just over three years when he sold to N.H. Broadcasting, Inc. for $186,661.
The principals were brothers Henry and Morris Silver, owners of a successful
Manchester bottling company and beverage distribution business, and Samuel
G. Camaan, owner of Pariseau's Department Store. They installed Arthur
I. "Roxy" Rothafel as station manager.
When WFEA wasn't carrying network programs or featuring
live
entertainment, disc jockeys like Chuck O'Neil and Gerry Kearney played
popular music from large discs known as electrical transcriptions.
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